Ahmed Ali said Ms Begum, who travelled from London to Syria aged 15 in 2015, had "done wrong without realising it".

He urged Home Secretary Sajid Javid to restore her citizenship so she could be to return home and face prosecution.

Speaking before the death on Thursday of Ms Begum’s three-week-old baby from pneumonia Mr Ali said: "She has done wrong, I apologise to everyone as her father, to the British people, I am sorry for Shamima's doing. I request to the British people, please forgive her."

Ms Begum’s father pointed out that she was a child when she left Britain to join Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in 2015.

Speaking from his home in the village of Dovroy, in north-eastern Bangladesh, he told the BBC: "She was underage at that time, she couldn't understand that much. I suppose someone influenced her to do that. I admit that she might have done wrong without realising it."

Mr Ali urged the British government and public to "take her back and punish her if she had done any mistake".

Shamima Begum's father Ahmed Ali urged the British government and public to "take her back and punish her if she had done any mistake".

He said he had “no idea” how his daughter had come to be radicalised by Isil, saying he only visited London for between two and four months at a time.

"I do not stay there more than that. I do not know much about her [lately]," he said.

"The time I stayed with Shamima, I never felt any such behaviour of going to Syria or joining IS."

Mr Javid has been condemned for refusing to allow Ms Begum to return to the UK with her child, named Jarrah.

She has blamed terrible conditions in Syria’s refugee camps for the deaths of two of her previous children.

In three months, more than 100 people have died on the way, or soon after, arriving at the camp, with two-thirds of those aged under five.

Sajid Javid has been condemned for refusing to allow Ms Begum to return to the UK with her child, named Jarrah.Credit: PA

Dal Babu, a former Metropolitan Police chief superintendent and a friend of Ms Begum's family, said: "We've failed, as a country, to safeguard the child. This was an entirely avoidable death of a British citizen.

"There was no attempt to help by the Home Office. I think it's shocking how the home secretary has treated this situation."

Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, also criticised the actions of the Home Office.

She tweeted: "It is against international law to make someone stateless, and now an innocent child has died as a result of a British woman being stripped of her citizenship. This is callous and inhumane."

On Friday, before the death of Ms Begum’s baby was confirmed, Mr Javid said: "Sadly there are probably many children, obviously perfectly innocent, who have been born in this war zone.

"I have nothing but sympathy for the children that have been dragged into this.

"This is a reminder of why it is so, so dangerous for anyone to be in this war zone."